Mouza Al Suwaidi has been named Secretary-General of the UAE Gender Balance Council.
The announcement was made on Monday as Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, chaired the UAE Cabinet meeting.
With more than 20 years of experience in the UAE public and private sectors, Mouza Al Suwaidi is set to add more value to the Council and help build on its achievements.
Her appointment underscores the UAE’s commitment to supporting Emirati women and strengthening their roles as leaders and decision-makers, highlighted Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed, president of the UAE Gender Balance Council.
“The council’s new structure will bring together talented Emiratis from diverse fields to drive gender balance efforts, boosting the UAE’s position in international rankings,” said Mona Ghanem Al Marri, Vice President of the UAE Gender Balance Council.
Mouza Al Suwaidi has held prominent leadership roles, with the most recent being Head of Community Engagement at the Knowledge and Human Development Authority in Dubai. She holds a master’s degree in business administration from Wayne State University.
She expressed gratitude to the UAE leaders for entrusting her with the new role. “I am honoured by the trust placed in me and will dedicate myself to fulfilling the responsibilities it involves, guided by our leadership’s forward-looking vision and their inspirational direction.
“I look forward to working closely with the members of the Council and drawing on their vast expertise to drive continued progress in gender balance,” Ms Al Suwaidi said.
The UAE Gender Balance Council was created in 2015.
World failing girls, women
Despite global efforts, the world is falling short of achieving gender equality.
This year’s UN Gender Snapshot 2023 shows that the gender gap in power and leadership positions remains problematic with calls for an integrated and holistic approach and policy changes to address gender disparities worldwide.
It also underscores the urgent need for concrete efforts to accelerate progress towards gender equality by 2030 and revealed that an additional $360 billion per year is needed to achieve women’s empowerment across key global goals.
“This year’s report is a resounding call to action,” Sarah Hendriks, UN Women Deputy Executive Director ad interim, had emphasised. “We must collectively and intentionally act now to course-correct for a world where every woman and girl has equal rights, opportunities, and representation. To achieve this, we need unwavering commitment, innovative solutions, and collaboration across all sectors and stakeholders.”
In June, UN human rights chief Volker Turk highlighted that the world is “failing to deliver on the promise of gender equality” at the 56th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
“The world is failing to deliver on the promise of gender equality,” Mr Turk said. “Failing to put in place the measures needed to ensure half of humanity enjoy their fundamental rights and freedoms.”
“Gender equality needs to be positively fostered through laws governing all areas of life – economic, public and political. And we need policy measures to ensure that these laws are applied,” Mr Turk added.
The UAE committed an additional $15 million to UN Women in 2023 over the course of three years to promote gender equality, empower women and girls worldwide and advance their participation in conflict prevention and peace-building.
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The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
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Fixtures:
Wed Aug 29 – Malaysia v Hong Kong, Nepal v Oman, UAE v Singapore
Thu Aug 30 - UAE v Nepal, Hong Kong v Singapore, Malaysia v Oman
Sat Sep 1 - UAE v Hong Kong, Oman v Singapore, Malaysia v Nepal
Sun Sep 2 – Hong Kong v Oman, Malaysia v UAE, Nepal v Singapore
Tue Sep 4 - Malaysia v Singapore, UAE v Oman, Nepal v Hong Kong
Thu Sep 6 – Final
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
